Graduation Sayings
Our graduation sayings can be used in graduation cards, social media posts, and hand-written letters to recent grads. It shows the graduates that you’re thinking of them.
So if you’re looking to recognize, congratulate, and inspire recent graduates, we think you’ll be able to find the right words below.
Congratulations Graduate Sayings
1.) A new beginning, new goals, new opportunities… Congrats!
2.) You can fix my grammar now that you are smart! Ain’t that what graduates are for? Congratulations on being a graduate!
3.) Wishing you much success as you pursue your dreams and goals! Here’s to making dreams come true!
4.) Keep calm because you’re seniors now! Congratulations!
5.) Hooray! Good for you! You did it! Outstanding!
6.) Good luck on your next adventure!
7.) Congrats! It’s your time to shine!
8.) Guess what? Life’s got just a little harder now that you’ve graduated!
9.) Congratulations on being a graduate! I hope that this is going to be just the beginning of many bigger achievements in your life!
10.) My wish for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to! Your dreams shall always stay big!
11.) If you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true!
You Did It!
12.) A brand new start, a new beginning, a new life. Make it a successful one!
13.) Happy graduation! You have a bright future!
14.) Congrats on graduating, but remember – who you were, who you are, and who you will be are three different people!
15.) You’ve earned it; now own it. It pays to study!
16.) The journey of life brings both challenges and chances. May you carry your spirit to snatch the chances and beat the challenges. Congratulations on your graduation. May you live a proud life.
17.) Always aim for the stars! Happy graduation! I wish you the best in life!
18.) Nothing can stop you now! You have a ticket to your dreams come true. Although, I hope your weird and scary dreams don’t come true! Congratulations on your graduation!
19.) Now, you are standing on the edge of a whole new life! You have a bright future, and the only way is up from here! Congratulations on your graduation!
20.) Congrats and best wishes for success in your brand-new life! I knew that you would do this!
21.) This is the day when you stopped being a student and entered professional life! We are so happy for you!
22.) Congratulations on your graduation!
23.) I didn’t know you had such a big brain! I couldn’t be more proud of you! Congrats on graduating!
24.) Congratulations! There was some question as to whether you could cut it, but you proved all the critics wrong. Just kidding.
25.) Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life you imagined!
Good Graduation Sayings
26.) Congratulations! You are brilliant, able, and ambitious! You shall always walk the glory road. Happy graduation!
27.) Congratulations on your graduation! We know that you have worked hard, and we look forward to seeing you reap the benefits!
28.) It’s time to enjoy your life the most! It’s time to step into your brand-new life! Congratulations on being a graduate!
29.) Your new diploma is your ticket to a bright future! Congratulations on your graduation!
30.) Congrats! You are an inspiration to us! It is time for you to spread your wings and start flying!
31.) We wish your dreams take you to the best places your heart has always aspired to!
32.) Always trust your gut. It knows what your head hasn’t yet figured out! Congratulations on your graduation!
33.) Go into the world and do well! But more importantly, go into the world and do good!
34.) Every possibility begins with the courage to imagine! Congratulations on making one thing possible in your life!
You might like: Good Graduation Images
The Time of Your Life
35.) Congratulations on your graduation! Four years of college is now history. Remember, if you graduate today and stop learning tomorrow, you stay uneducated the day after!
36.) This is your moment! You are simply awesome! This is your first step to the start of a future full of happiness and success! Congrats on your graduation!
37.) Congratulations! It’s amazing to see you graduating and rising in your life!
38.) So proud of you! Well done, you’re an all-star!
39.) Congrats! Your hard work, sacrifices, and dedication have been rewarded!
40.) Congratulations, graduate! You are going to do big things!
41.) They can’t call you dumb anymore! They’ll have to find bigger words now that you have graduated! Congrats on being a graduate now!
42.) Congrats! This is the beginning of anything you want!
43.) Yay! You totally did it!
44.) Congratulations! Hard work always pays off! And you have proven it! Good going, and I wish you all the best!
45.) You blew me away with your achievement! Congratulations on graduating!
46.) The best thing about graduation is that it gives you knowledge that you’ll carry for the rest of your life! Make sure you don’t do the same with student loans! Congratulations on graduating.
Fun Graduation Sayings
47.) It’s not your blue blood, your pedigree, or your college degree. It’s what you do with your life that counts.
Millard Fuller – Founder of Habitat for Humanity
48.) All our dreams can come true…if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
49.) Kid, you’ll move mountains.
Dr. Seuss
50.) Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.
John Dewey
51.) The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
Edward Koch
52.) Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
53.) Sending you a day full of sunshine, a heaven filled with rainbows, and a pocket full of dreams. May the future ahead of you be as wonderful as you are.
Judith Wibberley
54.) You’re off to great places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… Get on your way!
Dr. Suess
Tip: Use these congratulations graduation quotes for cards, texts, Instagram captions, Facebook posts, and more.
Happy Graduation Quotes
55.) Congratulations! Well done. You deserve it!
56.) I’m glad to congratulate you on such an important and meaningful event!
57.) Hearty congratulations on your graduation! Wishing you good luck with the new beginning in your life!
58.) Happy graduation day! I wish you to dream your biggest! For it is the biggest dreams that have the power to move the heart of man!
59.) Happy graduation! No matter how difficult you may have to find the books, the fruits of education are always sweet!
60.) Finally, you have completed your graduation! The rewards you will get will bring your success and happiness! I wish you all the success in your career! Happy graduation!
61.) The future lies before you like a field of driven snow, be careful how you tread it, for every step will show.
Short Graduation Sayings
62.) Happy graduation! All these four years, you have done your best, and it is time to enjoy the fruits of your sacrifices and hard work!
63.) I can’t believe you are graduating! You are finally grown up! Happy graduation day!
64.) May you celebrate your graduation, remembering special memories from your past and exciting dreams for your future! Happy graduation!
65.) Graduation is the beginning of a lifetime of learning! Happy graduation day!
66.) Heck, yes! We have to celebrate this!
67.) Graduation is a time for boldly looking into your future! Happy graduation day!
68.) Take pride in how far you’ve come. Congrats Grad!
69.) Congratulations on graduating with honors.
Good Graduation Messages
70.) I am so proud to have known someone so smart! Congrats on your hard work paying off!
71.) Here’s to an amazing student career! Happy graduation day to someone who will continue breaking the boundaries!
72.) Graduation is an exciting time! It’s both an ending and a beginning! Wishing you the best in your future!
73.) Congrats, graduate! We know this is only the beginning of your success story! You will go far!
74.) The gown and cap will be used just once, but don’t worry because your student loans will last long! Congrats on being a graduate!
75.) Go wild and have all the fun in the world! It’s your graduation day!
Congratulations High School Graduates
76.) The destiny of hard work is always a success! You have done hard work and succeeded! Congratulations on your massive success!
77.) ConGrads! You must be feeling on top of the world!
78.) It seems like yesterday, you were starting high school. We’ve enjoyed watching you grow and achieve so much these past four years. Congrats, we are so proud of you!
79.) Prayers and blessings on your graduation day.
Congratulations College Graduates
80.) Eventually, you have finished with your college! It’s time to put on that gown and cap! All that hard work and dedication has paid off! Let the ceremony get through so that we all can go crazy and celebrate!
81.) Congratulations on your well-deserved success!
82.) Greet the future with anticipation! Dream big and work hard! Congratulations on graduating!
83.) Don’t strive to make your presence noticed. Just live to make your absence felt!
84.) Do what you love. Love what you do. What do you love? You do love what. That’s all I have to say about your bright future! Congratulations on your graduation!
85.) Caps off to you, Graduate! Well done!
Words of Encouragement
86.) You’ve worked hard all these years. Congrats, you earned it! Believe in yourself and watch the magic happen.
87.) Graduation isn’t the end of a tough journey. It is the beginning of a new adventure.
88.) School may be over, but life lessons are still to be learned. Keep an open heart and mind. Congratulations!
89.) Education is the key to unlocking your talents! Remember, you will need the courage to become who you want to be! Congratulations on being a graduate!
90.) May all the warm memories of your school days be with you on your journey to success. Congrats on graduating.
91.) Your future is bright. Dream big!
Funny Graduation Messages
92.) My deepest condolences on the end of your college days. Welcome to the real world.
93.) You have to be odd to be number one! Congrats on graduating, and best wishes for the future!
94.) For all the lack of sleep, late-night studies, and hard work, your reward is here. You’ve earned it. Congratulations.
95.) Happy Graduation! Now go get a job.
Inspirational Graduation Quotes
96.) The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.
Mark Twain
97.) Your inexperience is an asset in that it will make you think in original, unconventional ways. Accept your lack of knowledge and use it as your asset.
Natalie Portman
98.) Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X
99.) You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Christopher Columbus
100.) If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.
Thomas Jefferson
Best Graduation Quotes
101.) If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.
Mario Andretti
102.) All you need is love.
The Beatles
103.) That’s how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.
Libba Bray
104.) Do not dwell in the past, don’t dream of the future, and concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha
105.) Life moves pretty fast if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ferris Bueller
106.) Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
Confucius
107.) Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.
James Dean
108.) Do all the other things, the ambitious things—travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes—but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.
George Saunders
109.) Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.
Leonardo Da Vinci, The Notebooks
110.) The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulations of others.
Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts
Awesome Quotes for the Grad
111.) All of our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
112.) The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.
Benjamin Disraeli
113.) May your hand always be busy, May your feet always be swift, May your heart always be sung and may you stay forever young.
Bob Dylan
114.) We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.
Henry David Thoreau
115.) Why wait any longer for the world to begin.
Bob Dylan
116.) You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford
117.) You will find the key to success under the alarm clock.
Benjamin Franklin
118.) Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.
Benjamin Franklin
119.) Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau
120.) The most rewarding things in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.
Arnold Palmer
Great Graduation Quotes
121.) The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
Albert Einstein
122.) Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts.
Albert Einstein
123.) Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you anywhere.
Albert Einstein
124.) Hitch your wagon to a star.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
125.) In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Gandhi
126.) For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn
127.) I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known.
Unknown
128.) Without courage, all other virtues lose their meaning.
Winston Churchill
129.) The dedicated life is the life worth living.
Annie Dillard
130.) Commencement speeches were invented largely in the belief that outgoing college students should never be released into the world until they have been properly sedated.
Garry Trudeau
131.) It takes most men five years to recover from a college education and to learn that poetry is as vital to thinking as knowledge.
Brooks Atkinson
Inspirational Graduation Sayings
132.) Life is my college. May I graduate well and earn some honors!
Louisa May Alcott
133.) As you start your journey, the first thing you should do is throw away that store-bought map and begin to draw your own.
Michael Dell
134.) Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.
Ed Helms
135.) Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Mahatma Gandhi
136.) Make the most of yourself, for that, is all there is of you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
137.) Spread joy. Chase your wildest dreams.
Patch Adams
138.) Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked what we would do if the stars only came out once every thousand years. No one would sleep that night, of course; we would be ecstatic, delirious, and made rapturous by the glory of God. Instead, the stars come out every night, and we watch television.
Paul Hawken
139.) Life is not about warming yourself by the fire; life is about building the fire. And generosity is the match – If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap, but if you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.
Larry Luchino
Graduation Sayings for Son
140.) Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.
Napoleon Hill
141.) As you walk down the fairway of life, you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round.
Ben Hogan
142.) Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Bobby Kennedy
143.) Do not pray for easier lives; pray to be stronger men.
John F. Kennedy
144.) Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln
145.) Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln
146.) I’m an idealist: I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.
Carl Sandburg
147.) Everything has been figured out except how to live.
Sartre
Graduation Quotes 2023
148.) Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
“Closing Time” song by Semisonic
149.) Today you are you; that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is you-er than you.
Dr. Seuss
150.) It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Aristotle
151.) Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.
Nora Ephron
152.) When you leave here, don’t forget why you came.
Adlai Stevenson
153.) Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated; you can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.
David Lloyd George
154.) It takes most men five years to recover from a college education and to learn that poetry is as vital to thinking as knowledge.
Brooks Atkinson
155.) If at first, you don’t succeed, do it as your mother told you.
Unknown
156.) It is absolutely still possible to make a difference.
Michelle Obama
157.) The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.
Maya Angelou
High School Graduation Quotes
158.) In response to those who say to stop dreaming and face reality, I say keep dreaming and make a reality.
Kristian Kan
159.) The best-helping hand that you will ever receive is the one at the end of your own arm.
Fred Dehner
160.) The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.
Edward Koch
161.) Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.
Albert Einstein
162.) I can’t wait to hear your name horribly mispronounced at the graduation ceremony.
Andy Atticus
163.) When we show up, act boldly, and practice the best ways to be wrong, we fail forward. No matter where we end up, we’ve grown from where we began.
Stacey Abrams
164.) So long as your desire to explore is greater than your desire to not screw up, you’re on the right track.
Ed Helms
165.) Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
Confucius
166.) Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.
Mark Twain
College Graduation Sayings
167.) A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that ‘individuality’ is the key to success.
Robert Orben
168.) Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.
Judy Garland
169.) The unfortunate yet truly exciting thing about your life is that there is no core curriculum. The entire place is an elective.
Jon Stewart
170.) My school was so tough the school newspaper had an obituary section.
Norm Crosby
171.) You must continue to dream the wild dream that you dreamed when you were young.
Mike Tomlin
172.) It is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.
George Burns
173.) At graduation, you get to wear a cap and gown, but it’s a good idea to also wear something underneath it.
Greg Tamblyn
174.) Old rules will crumble, but no one can predict what the new rules are. Make your own rules instead.
Neil Gaiman
175.) Living with integrity is the most important thing in life. Don’t waste time trying to be something you are not by giving in to peer pressure.
Ellen DeGeneres
176.) Education is not to prepare for life; education is life.
John Dewey
For Daughter
177.) The stars are beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen.
The Little Prince
178.) We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.
Tim McGraw
179.) The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all.
Princess Diaries
180.) Don’t let your dreams be dreams.
Unknown
181.) The light that shines on you shows where you are, the light that shines in you shows where you will go.
Unknown
182.) Live simply, love deeply.
Unknown
183.) Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in.
Hillary Clinton
184.) The key to happiness is having dreams; the key to success is making them come true.
Unknown
185.) You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once, but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
Michelle Obama
186.) You’re general, but you’re also specific. A citizen and a person, and the person you are is like nobody else on the planet.
Toni Morrison
187.) Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger, and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.
Ed Helms
For Brother
188.) Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
189.) It is good to have a journey toward the end, but it is the journey that matters in the end.
Ernest Hemingway
190.) Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.
Oprah Winfrey
191.) Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
192.) Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, and never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path; then, by all means, you should follow that.
Ellen Degeneres
193.) Graduation day is tough for adults. They go to the ceremony as parents. They come home as contemporaries. After twenty-two years of child-raising, they are unemployed.
Erma Bombeck
194.) Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
John Wooden
For Your Child
195.) Best to take the moment present as a present at the moment.
Unknown
196.) What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the human soul.
Joseph Addison
197.) Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
198.) We may live in an age of instant messaging, instant gratification, and Instagram, but there is no way to short-circuit the path to success. It takes hard work, tenacity, and patience.
Tory Burch
199.) We laughed until we had to cry, and we loved right down to our last goodbye, but over the years, we’ll smile and recall, for just one moment – we had it all!
Unknown
200.) The bravest thing you can do is be yourself.
Unknown
201.) There will come a time when you believe everything is finished…that will be the beginning.
Unknown
102.) The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.
B.B. King
For Sister
203.) Moving on is simple. It’s what we leave behind that’s hard.
Unknown
204.) Long ago, in a time that has faded from memory, a mother’s tears forged the bridge that, ever after, connected the power of the living every changing world to the human heart.
Unknown
205.) The choices you don’t make are as important as the ones you do.
Unknown
206.) Use what talents you possess: the wood would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke
207.) It’s just life, so keep dancing through.
Wicked
208.) Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose.
The Wonder Years
209.) There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.
Rihanna
Yearbook Graduation Quotes Ideas
210.) All our dreams can come true…if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
211.) Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
B.F. Skinner
212.) If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!
Andy McIntyre
213.) The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
214.) To those of you who received honors, awards, and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, may one day be president of the United States.
George W. Bush
215.) Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do.
Ella Fitzgerald
216.) A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car, but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.
Theodore Roosevelt
NOTE: Sometimes, the best graduation quotes are short and to the point. Other graduation quotes take some time to get there, but the wait is worthwhile. Try incorporating some graduation quotes into your message to your favorite graduate. Find the right quote, and add the right message, and your congratulations greeting will stand out.
Graduation Sayings for Invitations
217.) Hitch your wagon to a star.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
218.) How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.
Gabrielle Coco Chanel
219.) If your uniform isn’t dirty, you haven’t been in the game.
Ben Bernanke
220.) If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm.
Vince Lombardi – for more inspirational Vince Lombardi quotes
221.) It is clear the future holds great opportunities. It also holds pitfalls. The trick will be to avoid the pitfalls, seize the opportunities, and get back home by six o’clock.
Woody Allen
222.) Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.
Neil Gaiman
223.) It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.
E.E. Cummings
224.) Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.
Mark Amend
225.) Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.
Maya Angelou
226.) I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
Jim Carrey
227.) Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Steve Jobs
Motivational Graduation Quotes
228.) The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
229.) I mean, we all fly. Once you leave the ground, you fly. Some people fly longer than others.
Michael Jordan
230.) The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen.
Sarah Brown
231.) You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you’re doing, but what you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover will be yourself.
Alan Alda
232.) Being attentive to the needs of others might not be the point of life, but it is the work of life.
Jonathan Saran Foer
233.) The important thing is not to stop questioning.
Albert Einstein
234.) The most rewarding things in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.
Arnold Palmer
235.) Your life journey is about learning to become more of who you are and fulfilling the highest, truest expression of yourself as a human being.
Oprah Winfrey
236.) The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
Aristotle
237.) Now the first suggestion is to aim high but be aware that even before you have reached your ultimate professional destination, if you always strive for excellence, you can and should have a substantial impact on the world in which you live.
Sandra Day O’Connor
Notable Graduation Quotes
238.) The best advice I can give anybody about going out into the world is this: Don’t do it. I have been out there. It is a mess.
Russell Baker
239.) Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.
Albert Einstein
240.) The only thing that ever sat its way to success was a hen.
Sarah Brown
241.) Every person you meet knows something you don’t; learn from them.
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
242.) You’re defined by what you define failure as. It’s not a thing if it leads you to your success. It’s all part of the journey.
Justin Timberlake
243.) There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.
C.S. Lewis
244.) My dear terrified graduates, you are about to enter the most uncertain and thrilling period of your lives. The stories you are about to live are the ones you will be telling your children, grandchildren, and therapists.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
245.) Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.
Will Rogers
246.) The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.
Newton D. Baker
247.) Life is an improvisation. You have no idea what’s going to happen next, and you are mostly just making things up as you go along.
Stephen Colbert
Important Things In Life Quotations
248.) Very little is needed to make a happy life.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
249.) It is not how much we have but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, John Ploughman’s Talk
250.) There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
George Sand, Letter to Lina Calamatta (1862)
251.) The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
George Washington Burnap, The Sphere, and Duties of Woman
252.) Real leadership comes from the quiet nudging of an inner voice. It comes from realizing that the time has come to move beyond waiting to doing.
Madeleine Albright
253.) That clock you hear is the sound of your own heart. Sink your teeth into this life, and don’t get let go.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Famous Graduation Sayings
254.) Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for you being here. Make good art.
Neil Gaiman
255.) The tassel’s worth the hassle!
Unknown
256.) I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.
Mark Twain
257.) You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
258.) Find it, insist on it, dig into it, and go after it.
Jennifer Garner
259.) It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
Babe Ruth
260.) The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education but the means of education.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
261.) Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.
Art Linkletter
Classic Graduation Quotes
262.) The things taught in colleges and schools are not an education but the means of an education.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals
263.) Seek information from the experienced.
Marcus Tullius Cicero
264.) As land is improved by sowing it with various seeds, so is the mind by exercising it with different studies.
Pliny the Elder, “Letter to Tuscus”
265.) Every now and then, a man’s mind is stretched by a new idea or sensation and never shrinks back to its former dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
266.) A single conversation across the table with a wise man is better than ten years mere study of books.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Hyperion
267.) An education which does not cultivate the will is an education that depraves the mind.
Anatole France, The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard
268.) Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.
Edward Gibbon
269.) There is precious instruction to be got by finding that we were wrong.
Thomas Carlyle, in a letter to a young man (1843)
270.) Wear your learning like your watch, in a private pocket, and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one.
Lord Chesterfield, Letter to His Son (1748)
Meaningful Quotes for a Graduate
271.) To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.
E.E. Cummings
272.) Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein
273.) We do not need magic to change the world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
JK Rowling – See more insights from J.K. Rowling.
274.) Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.
H. Jackson Brown Jr.
275.) An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin
276.) Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.
Nora Ephron
277.) You don’t go to university, so you can punch a clock. You go to university so you can be in a position to make a difference.
Janet Napolitano
278.) What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Graduation Words of Wisdom
279.) Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.
Dr. Seuss
280.) Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
281.) You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.
Tom Brokaw
282.) You may not always have a comfortable life, and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.
Michelle Obama
283.) Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Steve Jobs
Inspire a Graduate
284.) To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.
Anatole France
285.) Your life is your story, and the adventure ahead of you is the journey to fulfill your own purpose and potential.
Kerry Washington
286.) Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
287.) Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
Malcolm X
288.) What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
289.) Take action. Every story you’ve ever connected with, every leader you’ve ever admired, every puny little thing that you’ve ever accomplished is the result of taking action. You have a choice. You can either be a passive victim of circumstance, or you can be the active hero of your own life.
Bradley Withford
290.) In life, you make the small decisions with your head and the big decisions with your heart.
Omid Kordestani
291.) And now go, and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here.
Neil Gaiman
292.) Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for a seat at the head of the table.
Barack Obama
Deep Graduation Insights
293.) Knowledge is not power. The implementation of knowledge is power.
Larry Winget
294.) Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.
Leonardo da Vinci
295.) Let us never be betrayed into saying we have finished our education; because that would mean we had stopped growing.
Julia H. Gulliver
296.) Real courage is holding on to a still voice in your head that says, ‘I must keep going.’ It’s that voice that says nothing is a failure if it is not final. That voice that says to you, ‘Get out of bed. Keep going. I will not quit.’
Cory Booker
297.) You can never plan the future by the past.
Edmund Burke
298.) Wouldn’t you know that your path was there all along, waiting for you to knock, waiting for you to become. This path does not belong to your parents, your teachers, your leaders, or your lovers. Your path is your character defining itself more and more every day, like a photograph coming into focus.
Jodie Foster
299.) No job or task is too small or beneath you. If you want to get ahead, volunteer to do the things no one else wants to do and do it better.
Bobbi Brown
300.) It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.
J.K. Rowling
Graduation Sayings FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about graduation quotes.
See George Saunders’ quote, “Do all the other things, the ambitious things—travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes—but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.”
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path, and leave a trail.”
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
The Importance of Graduation
Graduation is one of the biggest achievements in anyone’s life. It is the culmination of one sweet chapter in your life and the beginning of another great chapter where you can write a new story.
Graduation is a major life event, something most folks will never forget. It is a milestone that will be embedded forever in your own memories and the memories of your loved one. And you will cherish it forever.
If someone around you has graduated, this is the best time to make them feel special. Here are some congratulations, graduation quotes, and messages for graduation day to make someone’s day even brighter!
If you have a recommendation for congratulations graduation quotes, please let us know via the contact page. Thank you.
By Mike O’Halloran
Mike is the founder and editor of Greeting Card Poet.
Encore
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